Navigating Conference Season: From Passenger Experience & Ancillary Revenues to Technology & Innovation

Fall is a notoriously busy season for events and conferences. There are so many shows to choose from that focus on everything from passenger experience and ancillary revenues to innovation and technology. As I was reading Roger Chabra and Katherine Homuth’s article on BetaKit last week about making the most out of conference season, it got me thinking about my own schedule and why I’ve chosen the specific shows I’ll be attending.

Katherine wrote about how she has two modes when it comes to events season: hustle – for when she is going hard on pitching, usually coinciding with a new product launch – or heads down – for when she says no to anything that isn’t absolutely necessary. As the view from my desk reminds me daily, we’re in hustle mode at Guestlogix. With that in mind, it has shaped the events that I’ve chosen to attend this fall.

I generally like to keep a mix of conferences on my calendar to keep in tune with our market’s needs, to test out how people will receive products and messaging we’re working on, search out innovation, network and learn from peers, and recruit for the growing Guestlogix team.

With that said, here’s a look at where I’ll be this fall events season:

• Aviation Festival – September 6-8
  • Why I’m Going: I’m most intrigued by Aviation Festival’s marketing track and continuing to learn about the space. This conference is one of the last industry events I’ll attend before our big product launch at APEX so I’ll be busy finalizing messaging and getting last minute ideas.
• Elevate Toronto – September 12-14
  • Why I’m Going: Elevate is a great event for networking and searching out innovation. I’ll be attending the Fintech and AI tracks – it’s exciting to see that Canada is turning into a hotbed for both of these industries.
• APEX – September 26-28
  • Why I’m Going: APEX is where we’ll finally do the big product unveil we’ve all been working towards at Guestlogix. This is our main event for 2017 and I'm looking forward to demoing the new product, meeting with major airlines, and connecting with partners.
• World Passenger Symposium – October 24-26
  • Why I’m Going: To better serve our own customers, it’s important for us to learn how to help them better serve passengers. World Passenger Symposium offers up a handful of tracks – like Tomorrow’s Journey and Technology – that dive into the trends that passengers are looking for from airlines.
• SaaS North – November 29-30
  • Why I’m Going: It looks as though the entire SaaS ecosytem in Canada will be making the trek out to SaaS North so I’m looking forward the networking and professional development opportunities it offers. Some of the speakers and companies I’m excited to hear from are David Skok of Matrix Partners, Paul Teshima of Nudge.ai, Allison Pickens of Gainsight, and Oli Gardner of Unbounce.

If you’re planning on attending any of these, reach out so we can connect. Also, let me know if there are any conferences you think I missed that are on the top of your list for the fall events season and what your goals are when you attend conferences.